“Yes, that will do admirably,” said she.  “There will be no danger of my being robbed of your present, which I had better take with me.”

“With pleasure, mademoiselle,” replied the count.  “But you will send me back my carriage, won’t you?”

Rachel had a curious way of asking every one she met for presents and knickknacks, whether they were valuable or not.  She knew how to make them valuable.

Once in a studio she noticed a guitar hanging on the wall.  She begged for it very earnestly.  As it was an old and almost worthless instrument, it was given her.  A little later it was reported that the dilapidated guitar had been purchased by a well-known gentleman for a thousand francs.  The explanation soon followed.  Rachel had declared that it was the very guitar with which she used to earn her living as a child in the streets of Paris.  As a memento its value sprang from twenty francs to a thousand.

It has always been a mystery what Rachel did with the great sums of money which she made in various ways.  She never was well dressed; and as for her costumes on the stage, they were furnished by the theater.  When her effects were sold at public auction after her death her furniture was worse than commonplace, and her pictures and ornaments were worthless, except such as had been given her.  She must have made millions of francs, and yet she had very little to leave behind her.

Some say that her brother Raphael, who acted as her personal manager, was a spendthrift; but if so, there are many reasons for thinking that it was not his sister’s money that he spent.  Others say that Rachel gambled in stocks, but there is no evidence of it.  The only thing that is certain is the fact that she was almost always in want of money.  Her mother, in all probability, managed to get hold of most of her earnings.

Much may have been lost through her caprices.  One instance may be cited.  She had received an offer of three hundred thousand francs to act at St. Petersburg, and was on her way there when she passed through Potsdam, near Berlin.  The King of Prussia was entertaining the Russian Czar.  An invitation was sent to her in the shape of a royal command to appear before these monarchs and their guests.  For some reason or other Rachel absolutely refused.  She would listen to no arguments.  She would go on to St. Petersburg without delay.

“But,” it was said to her, “if you refuse to appear before the Czar at Potsdam all the theaters in St. Petersburg will be closed against you, because you will have insulted the emperor.  In this way you will be out the expenses of your journey and also the three hundred thousand francs.”

Rachel remained stubborn as before; but in about half an hour she suddenly declared that she would recite before the two monarchs, which she subsequently did, to the satisfaction of everybody.  Some one said to her not long after: 

“I knew that you would do it.  You weren’t going to give up the three hundred thousand francs and all your travelling expenses.”